Southeast Asian startups are enjoying a boom in fundraising exercises by venture and buyout funds that are looking for bigger returns and turning away from regulatory turmoil in Chinese markets, even at the risk of slower growth, reported Reuters news agency.

Illustrative image. (Photo: Getty Images)

Firms such as Insignia Ventures Partners and SoftBank-backed East Ventures are among those that have raised a combined total of billions for startups over the past year as the region's 650 million people take to digital platforms.

Vishal Harnal, a managing partner at venture fund 500 Global, with 2.8 billion USD in assets, said that some of the world's largest institutions are coming up with strategies to invest and deploy capital into regions like Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia's internet economy, led by Indonesia, is forecast to double to 363 billion USD by 2025 from 174 billion USD at the end of 2021 in gross merchandise volume, according to a report which cited Google, Temasek and Bain & Company as saying.

Ride-hailing and food delivery firm Grab Holdings listed on Nasdaq Stock Market in December after a 40-billion USD merger, while Indonesian rival GoTo, raised 1.1 billion USD in a domestic listing this year.

This month, digital financial services group Fazz raised 100 million USD and Indonesia's Xendit, which bills itself as Southeast Asia's alternative to payments processor Stripe, announced fund-raising of 300 million USD in May.

Reuters said Southeast Asia is benefiting from Beijing's tough lockdowns and other measures to rein in COVID-19 in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Source: VNA